A data center is typically made of a network of nodes that communicate data between data sources and data sinks. In communicating data, a network node is generally not power-proportional in that power consumed by the network node is not proportional to the amount of data transferred by the network node. For instance, a switch that has a communication channel on may consume almost the same amount of power in keeping the communication channel on regardless of how much data that the switch transfers. While reliance of a network may be improved by having available communication channels of the network nodes switched on and evenly distributing data traffic across the open communication channels, such a network configuration is often not energy-efficient. Thus, a network configuration that manages network nodes to conserve power while satisfying requests for routing data from data sources and other requirements may be useful.